Senatorial aspirant and former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” T. Go wants to prioritize the legislation of a pension fund for farmers and fishermen if he wins a seat in the upper chamber, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.
Piñol said the former special assistant to the President made the pronouncement during a visit to Go’s hometown of M’lang in North Cotabato on December 7.
“Go said he will introduce legislation which would benefit Philippine agriculture and fisheries, and the country’s 10 million farming families,” Piñol said in a recent Facebook post.
“His priority legislation is the establishment of a pension fund for farmers and fishermen who are too old to work,” he added.
Piñol quoted Go as saying that elderly farmers and fishermen should also get pension once they reach retirement age, just like private and government employees who are supported by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security System (SSS).
“Go’s advocacy hits the nail on the head as the Department of Agriculture [DA] through the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. [PCIC] is now crafting a proposal for a pension fund for old farmers and fishermen,” Piñol said.
“The Senatorial candidate, who is now in the Magic 8, said he will make the pension fund for farmers and fishermen a priority legislative advocacy,” he added.
Piñol described Go as the farmers and fishermen’s “new champion” in Congress.
In March Piñol announced that the DA-PCIC has started to design a pension program, initially dubbed “Farmer’s and Fishermen’s Pension Fund,” that seeks to provide security to retiring farmers and fishermen in the country.
“This is a program which I have long advocated even when I was still governor of North Cotabato and this is based on my realization that when the farmer gets too old to still be able to work in the field, he usually ends up sickly and too poor to even buy medicines for rheumatism,” he said in a Facebook post on March 23.
“I have always emphasized that, while government workers have the GSIS, and private company employees and self-employed workers have the SSS, farmers and fishermen are not covered by any pension fund,” he added.
Under the proposed pension program, farmers and fishermen would receive financial benefits of up to P50,000, according to Piñol. He added that funding for the program would be sourced from the tariffs and duties collected from agricultural imports.
However, Piñol noted that such program would need Congressional action.
“I believe the time has come for the farmers and fishermen, often called ‘The Backbone of the Nation’ to be given the care and attention that they deserve,” he said.